Monday, June 23, 2008

Launch

Summer arrived this weekend, and we decided to celebrate by attending a historic boat launch in our equally-historic neighboring town of Belfast. The occasion was the rechristening of three Buzzard Bay 30 sailboats. These boats, originally built as a small fleet of racing sailers in 1902, underwent a massive, 3-year, multi-million dollar overhaul led by nautical historians and boat-builders.

Greg, Ari, and I met up with our friends Candace and Dennis for the event. Candace is a freelance photographer who also runs a fantastic dog walking business called Boneheads (You can visit her website here). She’s also the author of a fabulous blog detailing her victory over Hodgkins Lymphoma called "Hodge Podge." Dennis, her soon-to-be-husband, is a true salty sailor who has crewed on tall ships, including the very beautiful Angelique, where he served as first mate (and where I first met Dennis and Candace while writing a travel article on the windjammer industry). Dennis was one of the wooden boat carpenters who restored the three boats, so this was an exciting day for him.

It was also a great day for the caninaturalist. Even though Dennis and Candace’s dog, Sadie, had to stay home that day, there were plenty of other dogs for the caninaturalist to meet, like this Jack Russell terrier, who was too busy watching the boats to pose for a picture (or maybe he's just a graduate of Stormy's Posing School?)

The beach plums (Prunus maritima var. maritima.) are finally in bloom, and they filled the scene both with their garish color and classic summer scent, which even Ari (who usually prefers the smell of rotting snake carcass) seemed to appreciate:

The real highlight of the day, however, was watching the boats return to the sea after generations away.

Once they were christened, the boats were launched along with their owners and many of the carpenters and builders who have spent the past several years restoring them. A bagpiper added harmonic gravity to the scene:

On Thursday, they'll undergo their first sea-test under full sail. In the meantime, the crews took all three out for a few quick turns around the harbor before docking for the night.

Ari wasn't nearly as excited as we were to hear about the sea-test, but she was plenty thrilled when the humans decided to celebrate the day with ice cream, which meant that she got more than her fair share of ooey-gooey cone.

I don't know if it was the resulting blood sugar from the ice cream, or all the excitement of the day, but the caninaturalist fell asleep the minute we made our way back to the car. In fact, we even had to wake her up to get her up to bed at the end of the night. That, in our opinion, is a sure-fire sign of a great day.

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comments:

dmitri
said...

Wow, I'm the first one here this time. When will Ari embark on a sea voyage? Will she encounter pirate huskies? Arrr? Like Maverick! I won't try to write it all in the pirate talk--only Maverick can do that ;) or Johnny Depp and Keith Richards. Do they have blogs? Does the Dread Pirate Roberts? Does the previous Dread Pirate Roberts? Or the real Dread Pirate Roberts? Not the Dread Pirate Wesley? Ok, back to the movie...

What a great boat-watching day! We live right on the New River in Fort Lauderdale, and one of Booker's favorite things to do with his Man-Dad is sit by the river and watch the mega-yachts and trim little sailboats go past! Wait until Christmas, when we watch the boat parade. We have a river taxi and next weekend Booker might get to go for a ride to the coast. Wonder how he will do? How do coondogs do on water?!

Kathyrn, while I'm burning up out here and the Rincons are on fire you are enjoying a lovey day at the beach! Those sea plums look fabulously cool, and the water shots are all bright and cool shades of blue while my world is dusty green-gray smoke. Lovley post, though. Glad you had fun. Blossom would love to share an ice cream cone with Ari!

How COOL! Hey... mom says I act like I'm "out to launch" all the time - I didn't know it involved cool boats! Ha ROOOO!Wait until Dave hears there were bag pipers there; he LOVES bag pipe music!What a great day it must have been!Play bows,ZimPS: If Ari gets tagged for Breed Tag, she can be ANY breed or breeds she thinks represents who she is! That's cool that you're a Border Collie like Stormy!

Wow! What a beautiful day and such a momentus occasion.You are so lucky to live so close to the sea, too.I do love the mountains, but there is something so wonderful about the salty smell of the sea and the endless ocean vistas...and sail boats. Ahhhh!

Good evening Ari. The construction of the yacht of the boat race is very interesting. The scene of the design and manufacturing is also important. It divides with the ship and the progress of and ..insertion water.. ..becoming empty.. champagne of the ship to come. Of course, navigation person's excellence is needless to say. Pole Star..rely on..star..see..nighttime..navigation.It starts from knowing the wind and the course at the race. Wonderful navigation with the provision with thorough. My mind is a departure together. ：）

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About Me

Kathryn teaches Environmental Writing at Unity College. Bung Ari Jan Gab is an adolescent husky/jindo mix passionately committed to splashing in mud puddles, shredding paper, and proving that everything is digestible. She lives in a log cabin in the foothills of Maine with her human friends, Kathryn and Greg, and two rescue cats. Her current research interests include the ecology of vernal pools, the digestive processes of foxes, and the comings and goings of other dogs.